The joys of Jumby

by BRIAN VINE, Daily Mail

Last updated at 11:52 22 January 2001

A trade Wind caressed the pink oleander trees and carried the birdsong of the Antillean crested hummingbird across to Hawkshill Bay, where the endangered sea turtle has bred in peace for centuries. All is tranquil on Jumby Bay Island, a 300-acre paradise retreat, shaped like a horse's head, two miles north-east of Antigua in the Caribbean. Today there is nothing to endanger the life of man or God's animals. No cars are allowed - transport is by golf buggy - and until recently, bringing children under 14 was discouraged. And in high dudgeon while looking for an extra buck, the previous owners of the resort, a couple of Italian-American vintners, once threatened to cut off the water and electricity supplies to the 18 local homeowners. They included supermarket grocer Lord Sainsbury, who has colonnaded Candover House, and thriller writer Ken Follett. Thanks to a millionaire's co-op including the above and Robin Leach (American TV's Rich And Famous interlocutor) the island was bought lock, stock and ferry for a rumoured £20 million two years ago. Its time-stands-still ambience has attracted celebrities such as ex-Beatle George Harrison, model Claudia Schiffer and actor Liam Neeson. Across the scalpel-trimmed lawns, as smooth as a tee approach at St Andrews, to the detergent-white arc of the beaches, the sun-blessed scene is of gently swaying palms with scarlet and yellow hibiscus lighting up the green undergrowth. Jumby Bay has been British since King Charles I granted it to the present Earl of Carlisle's ancestor in 1627. The gift was made three years before the British settled in Antigua, ushering out the Spanish and French. Christopher Columbus did not land on the Antiguan mainland on his second voyage to the New World, but on passing, and a trifle arrogantly, christened it after the Virgin in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la Antigua. I remember coming to the Antiguan independence ceremony nearly 20 years ago when Princess Margaret handed over independence on behalf of the Queen in a borrowed tiara (on loan from Lord Glenconner's family). It is still in the Commonwealth with the Queen as Head of State. And its enormous support by British tourists (it has 40 hotels with 4,500 beds to fill) testifies to its safety, lushness and the beauty of its beaches (one for every day of the year). Some 28 miles across the turquoise sea, joined by a submarine platform (millions of years ago it was one island), is the 14-mile by eight-mile sister island of Barbuda. This heavenly spot is where wild pigs and deer outnumber the human population of 1,500. For us, our daily bread came from Tilly's Bakery, a lean-to of a shack in the capital Codrington, where slaves once lived semi-free in their own cottages which still stand. As for the airport, if you can call it that, it's more like arriving at a large garden shed after the 15 minute flight from Antigua. Even today, the fiercely independent locals treat all change with fear and loathing. A rebel throng collected in orderly but belligerent fashion at the idyllic Spanish Point a couple of years ago when a British developer planned to build a hotel on the inhabitants' favourite beach. They tipped both his containers into the sea and herded him off their foreshore. The common sport among the cognoscenti at Princess Diana's old hideaway, the white and turquoise K Club (its private plane has the same chic livery), is sorting out the mistresses from the wives as both drip in equal measure with diamonds at night. Nearly three centuries ago, when a British planter from Barbados, Sir Christopher Codrington, was the local sugar daddy and employed 500 slaves on his plantation (he had a lease from the British Crown for 'one fat sheep per year') locals were paid 500lb of sugar for capturing a runaway slave and 200lb for delivering a dead one. When slavery was outlawed in 1834, Jumby Bay in the north-east of Antigua was leased to emancipated slaves to grow vegetables for selling in the markets of Antigua. Barbuda now has an edge-of-the-world feeling and an unspoiled serenity with its stunning white beaches which enjoy a tinge of pinkness from the coral reefs off shore. In the thick mangroves of Codrington lagoon is a unique sanctuary for the extraordinary frigate bird which paradoxically detests water and can fly high above the clouds. Unlike at the K Club, in the mating season you can observe their courtship close up - the tame male puffs up a large red balloon beneath its hooked beak and for some unfathomable reason the female finds this prehistoric fertility rite enthralling and soon finds herself the breadwinner while the male nest-sits the chicks. On Barbuda life is as emancipated as it gets. There are no TVs, shopping malls, cinemas, theatres, noisy parties or crowded beaches. Crickets chirp, tree frogs croak and yacht bows churn white foam from the pale green waters. No hedonist could ask for more. Travel Facts For reservations call: 00 1 268 462 6000 or e-mail jumbyres@candw.ag. More details from Caribtours, tel: 020 7751 0660. For further information about Antigua and Barbuda, contact the Antigua and Barbuda Tourist Office on 020 7486 7073.